The 74 homes in Southside Village are not part of the CTS of Asheville Superfund site next door, say several residents of the gated community off Mills Gap Road. In two recent letters, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency backs up that assessment, saying it “does not believe contamination associated with the CTS of Asheville Superfund Site poses unacceptable risk to residents of SSV.”

It’s a “nightmare scenario” for residents living near or on land associated with the former CTS site south of Asheville on Mills Gap Road, according to a Dec. 29 Associated Press story that ran in the Charlotte Observer (“An Old Plant, tainted Land, and Worried Homeowners”). The story takes particular aim at the developers who purchased the more […]

Heavy rains caused landslides last year in Western North Carolina, destroying homes near Town Mountain Road and in the Beaverdam and Grove Park-Sunset Mountain neighborhoods. But in 2008, the region experienced the longest drought period ever recorded in the area.

The struggle to clean up the long-shuttered CTS manufacturing site on Mills Gap Road in South Asheville continues this Tuesday evening, July 29, with a town hall meeting organized by one of the community groups involved in the case — the POWER Action Group.

WLOS reported earlier tonight, June 6, that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state officials evacuated three families who live near the CTS superfund site on Mills Gap Road in South Asheville. A few weeks ago, local citizens groups and EPA officials announced that a “significant amount of trichloroethylene (TCE) is dissolved in a mass […]

South Asheville Resident Approaches CTS Board of Directors; Calls on Immediate Cleanup FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE– In an unprecedented move a South Asheville resident, who attributes his children’s cancers to trichloroethylene (TCE) exposure from the CTS of Asheville site, drove nearly 700 miles to Illinois and approached CTS executives in person at their annual shareholders […]

The U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals has ruled in favor of 23 local citizens pressing to get CTS Corp. to clean up the contaminated site on Mills Gap Road in south Asheville and compensate affected homeowners.

When Tate MacQueen drove past the former CTS of Asheville plant recently on his way home, a for-sale sign caught his eye. The 8.3-acre parcel on offer was originally part of the nearly 60-acre CTS property — some of which was designated a Superfund site last year.

Tomorrow night, Asheville City Council will consider a deal with Buncombe County to provide municipal water to 129 households around the former CTS of Asheville site, where groundwater contamination remains an ongoing problem.

Editor’s note: Five years after Xpress broke the news of severe contamination at the former CTS plant in south Asheville (see “Fail-Safe?” July 11, 2007, Xpress) the story is far from over. The property was officially designated a Superfund site this year, and tests last month showed high levels of toxic chemicals still leaching from […]

Lee Ann Smith’s and Tate MacQueen’s methods may differ, but their aim is the same: help their south Buncombe friends, families and neighbors obtain clean air and water. (photo of Gabe Dunsmith and Lee Ann Smith by Bill Rhodes)

After decades of grappling with contaminated well water, several Arden residents praised the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for taking the first step toward providing them with public water lines.

Among other actions, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners is set to vote June 19 on the budget, purchase property for A-B Tech and apply for federal loan funds that could help Mills Gap residents receive new water service from the city of Asheville.

A notebook of recovered documents may show how federal officials mishandled a contaminated site on Mills Gap Road in 1999, say a group of residents who held a press conference at the federal building in downtown Asheville today, May 23. (photos by Bill Rhodes)

In the ongoing ground-water contamination case connected to the former CTS electroplating plant on Mills Gap Road in south Asheville, emails between the EPA and residents imply that agency action to get new water service was being considered last July. But municipal water hookups remain far from certain.